Just got my new CTT... I don't know about you guys, but this is one of the best issues I've seen in a long time! The layouts are fantastic! Did anyone else's jaw hit the floor upon seeing Bob Brownsey's Photo Album pic on page 14-15? Simply Amazing! When will we see a full fledged article about this layout?
Great job CTT!
Greg
Doug Murphy 'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers...' Henry V.
I did notice. The whole scene reminds me of "It's a Wonderful Life".
Wouldn't you agree Doug, about the only thing missing is a Trolley on the Street!
Exactly what I thought too, Greg. I guess the berm in the middle of the street with the commercial buildings along the side made it look just like the movie to me. A trolley is definitely needed to make things 'perfect.'
By the way, welcome to the forum!
Thanks Doug! I was registered on the old forum, but upon reregistration... started fresh! I'm the bloke from Sparks, NV. Anyway... what do you think of the MTH "Buy War Bonds" version of the Bump N Go, and Birney? I'm very close to buying the BnG version. I think it looks Awesome! The final paint job is much better than how the catelog depicted it.
I agree with you guys, completely. I like the format they are using. New interesting items and subjects. Great pictures, as you said.
Chuck
Doug... I like the Birney as well. Just a matter of funds and space! I'm really hankering for a little Trolley action on my small layout. The "Buy War Bonds" BnG is striking, and at 60 bucks... won't break the bank. I will definately post a pic when the deal is done!
I agree, a very enjoyable issue.
The custom Hellgate bridge article hit the spot for me, and having two featured layouts is great.
Paul
God bless TCA 05-58541 Benefactor Member of the NRA, Member of the American Legion, Retired Boss Hog of Roseyville , KC&D Qualified
RIP Chewy - best dog I ever had.
I read it. I'll chime in with a different view. I guess I don't like the look of "hi rail" layouts. Not to take away from the skill and craftsmanship put into hi rail, I know it takes a lot of planning & work to make such nice scenery, but I can't get past the third rail and the toy type trains running over a perfectly scaled and detailed layout. I've always thought of layouts like some of those pictured in CTT of being better off as 2 rail O or even HO scale. To me, 3 rail track & toy type trains are for toy like layouts with out of the box accessories and buildings that look like toys. The trains look better running through the right environment. Scaled O gauge 2 rail trains belong on a scale layout with detailed scenes.
With regard to the steamboat, did anyone notice that the stacks were too high to fit under that bridge? Was it a lift bridge? I hope not, because the barge was already into the draw and the bridge was still closed.
-Brian in Bflo.
Haven’t received my CTT yet, beginning to wonder if and when I will get it. Gary
Modeling the Baltimore waterfront in HO scale
gwg50 wrote: Haven’t received my CTT yet, beginning to wonder if and when I will get it. Gary
Gary, I would like to suggest that you contact CTT and tell them that you have not received your magazine. Looking at the start date of this topic, you should of by now received your copy, if you live in North America.
Celebrating 18 years on the CTT Forum.
Buckeye Riveter......... OTTS Charter Member, a Roseyville Raider and a member of the CTT Forum since 2004..
Jelloway Creek, OH - ELV 1,100 - Home of the Baltimore, Ohio & Wabash RR
TCA 09-64284
I sent the following to CTT as a letter to the editor:
Don Woodwell's article "Lessons in layout wiring" gives the unfortunate impression that the size of the locomotive determines the wire size to use for a layout. In fact, the maximum current that the transformer can put out should be the first consideration. If the transformer can deliver 15 amperes before its circuit breaker trips, then the wire had better be able to stand that current, regardless of what train is on the track. For example, a Z or (postwar) ZW, with a circuit breaker rating of 15 amperes, should not be wired with smaller than 14 AWG. Very short taps of slightly smaller wire can be used to make the connections to the track less obvious, depending on the thermal mass of the nearby rail and bus to absorb the extra heat. But stretching an 18 AWG wire halfway across a layout from an obviously large transformer, as Woodwell shows, is asking for trouble.
I also have a problem with the illustration that shows insulated blocks of track powered from multiple outputs of a transformer. This all-too-common practice can be quite dangerous. If the blocks are set to different voltages, a heavy fault current can flow through the pickup rollers as the train crosses the insulated gap. Many multiple-output transformers, like the KW, Z, and ZW, are designed so that this fault current bypasses the circuit breaker. (Lionel acknowledged this problem once, in a fine-print note on the KW schematic diagram.) If the train should stall over a gap, the transformer and wiring (including the internal wiring in a multiple-pickup locomotive or lighted car) can easily burn up.
Even when the blocks are powered through separate circuit breakers, a voltage difference causes arcing, which eats away pickup rollers, and voltage spikes from the inductive "kick" of the transformers as the connection is made and broken--bad news for the delicate electronics in modern equipment. A safe alternative is to arrange blocks to be switchable between transformer outputs, so that any one train may be powered from the same transformer output wherever it goes on the layout.
Woodwell also advises using "aluminum" crimped connectors. It is very difficult to make reliable connections with aluminum. Fortunately, the sort of connectors illustrated are not aluminum at all, but plated copper.
Ray Plummer's "Questions and Answers" column also has a wire-gauge problem. He advises wiring a crossing with 18 or 20 AWG wire. The latter is too light for all but the smallest transformers. (In the text and in the photograph, the crossing has 90 degrees; but, in the track diagram, it has 45. It is a "crossing", not a "crossover", as Plummer, and Lionel sometimes, called it.)
Bob Nelson
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